HISTORY DUG UP

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From  RETROactive, Exploring Alberta's Past, a website by Alberta Arts, Culture and Status of Women. Its February posting highlighted John Utendale, the first black hockey player to sign an NHL contract. He attended Victoria School in Edmonton and played for the Edmonton OIl Kings in the 1950s. William O'Ree is often mentioned as the first Black hockey player who actually played in the NHL. He did so in 1958 for the Boston Bruins. But Utendale was signed earlier by the Detroit Redwings in 1955. He is now an education  professor at Western State College, USA.

 "Peel's Prairie Provinces  makes it possible to flip through all 693 pages and see who lived at your address and their occupation.  Peel's is a "digital collection of historical records, books, pamphlets, postcards, and other materials representing the diverse cultures and peoples that live in the Canadian Prairies." Avalable are  digtized Henderson's Directories for Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and 'Province-wide'. The project originated at the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the U of A.   

Depicted is Cree guide and trapper Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin (“Swift Runner”) who was executed in 1870 at Fort Saskatchewan for murdering his family, and was found to have eaten his victims. The case draws attention to cannibalism–or fear of cannibalism–around the time of social disruption brought by settlement in Western Canada. It was the Northwest Mounted Police's first execution. This multimedia oil painting was created in 2018  by Joe Coleman, a New York artist who focuses on historical oddities (it incorporates artifacts, hence 'multimedia').  For an academic discussion on the case and the 'Windigo Effect' see this publication from the U of A.

Scroll down in this  Alberta Labour History Institute page and find video clips of interviews with oldtimers who worked Alberta's coal mines in  Drumheller, Canmore and the Crowsnest Pass. The page has a concise history of mining in Alberta by Alvin Finkel, emeritus professor of History at Athabasca University. Learn about hard working immigrants, frequent disasters, bitter strikes, unions and negligent mining companies. 

Photo: Gabor Cook returning home from his work as a miner in Galt Mine, Number 6 (no date provided). Courtesy Galt Museum and Archives, GA-P19891034002.tif.